CHAPTER XLII 



Hawks catching beetles Nightjars Other soft-winged children of the night 

 Stage whispers Superstitions Notes of the Nightjar Its flight 

 Distribution of pollen Study of a feather A wonder of Nature. 



DURING the afternoon of the same day on which the Sparrow- 

 Hawk was seen building the nest referred to in the last 

 chapter, I had an opportunity of examining some castings 

 of a Kestrel, beneath a roosting place in an old slate-work- 

 ing near the top of Aran Benllyn, and was able to identify 

 in these some of the elytra of the Bloody -nosed Beetle 

 (Timarcha lcevigata\ a common insect here, but one which is 

 sometimes thought to be distasteful, if not actually noxious, 

 to birds. On my way back in the evening, I watched a 

 female Kestrel for some time, at the back of Garth-bach, 

 hawking insects upon the wing, above the trees. What 

 these were could not be ascertained with certainty, in the 

 dim light ; but both moths, and cockchafers, were on the 

 wing at the time, and I strongly suspected that it was 

 chiefly, if not altogether, the latter that she was catching. 

 Several times the bird passed close enough over me to 

 enable the talons to be distinctly seen, as they were thrust 

 out to grasp the prey, and from these it was transferred to 

 the mouth, and eaten upon the wing. This Kestrel con- 

 tinued actively upon the feed until far into the gloaming, 

 and considerably after Bats, and Nightjars, had begun to fly ; 

 and more than once 1 had both birds in view at the same 

 time, each engaged in the like pursuit. 



A pair of Nightjars nested amongst the ferns well up 

 towards the top of Garth-bach hill, and away from trees ; 

 and many a night have I sat there listening to their soft 

 churring, and admiring their graceful evolutions in the air. 

 Other Nightjars were frequently disturbed by day, upon 



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